MEALTIME MUSIC

Evening Star, Issue 25620, 22 October 1945, Page 3

MEALTIME MUSIC

EFFECT OH DIGESTION

American mealtime music is doing a lot of harm to health, and missing a great opportunity to do good, in the opinion of William L. Dawson, negro composer, writing in the Californian * Aquarian Age.’ He is director of music at Tuskegee Institute and composer of the ‘ Negro Folk Symphony,’ the first symphony based entirely on Negro folk music. He has been observing the effects of mealtime music ever since lie played in the orchestra at Tuskegee in his student days.

At that time, he said, ! under the rule of the founder, Dr Booker T. Washington, music was played only at supper, and then only soft music. “ But,” Dawson recalls, “ now and then we would switch, for a few minutes, to the “ St. Louis Blues ” or some fast rhythmic music, just to watch the effect. It was always almost instantaneous. The students would begin talking loudly, their jaws working faster while eating.” He says it i? his observation that persons who eat, habitually in cafes or dining rooms exposed constantly to highly rhythmic music, frequently suffer from indigestion. They tend- to chew in time to the music, and to tap one foot to musical time. He observes them as a nervous lot. He has studied people in taverns with a sandwich and bottle of beer, during long-continued, loud, fast music. Many sit for an hour or more, sipping a drink, and not eating even one sandwich They appear neurotic and torn to pieces. He blames the character of the music for some of this effect. He contends that soft music is exr cel lent for diuing. He plays records of that kind at his own meals. One of his favourites is Satie’s ‘ Gymnopedia,’ numbers one and two. Both are idealized forms of old Greek dances. Their rhythm is slow. If' anyone chewed in timej the jaws not only would work slowly, but would stop completely from time to time as the beat fades into inaudibility. One of the noticeable effects is relaxation of

muscles. That feeling runs from fingers to toes.

“ People are jaded,” the composer says. “ Plotels and cafes are missing a marvellous opportunity to help them during mealtime by properly-selected and modulated music.”